He might be more famous for espousing the virtues of a Dreadlock Holiday in Jamaica (`she said `I've got it, you want it? My harvest is the best and if you try it you'll like it'…) but for Graham Gouldman it was Salford that inspired some of his top tunes… Or, more precisely, Broughton Park…
"Broughton inspired everything, Broughton was in my blood" he explains "I'm very proud to come from Salford. I lived and worked there…although we didn't call it `Salford', it was kind of Broughton Park…Broughton Park sounded a bit posher."
Graham Gouldman lived in New Hall Road "until I was married for the first time, until my early twenties, I lived in various other houses but that was the last place I lived at."
At the time it was handy to get into Manchester to see the huge bands of the early sixties… "It was unbelievable" he recalls "I owe it a lot, in that every weekend me and my mates would go into town and see the Stones one weekend and The Beatles the next weekend, and The Kinks the next…The Animals…it was amazing what was going on, lots of clubs and places for people to play. It was just an amazing place to grow up."
Inspired by Broughton and The Beatles, Graham Gouldman originally formed a band called The Mockingbirds, wrote hits for The Yardbirds, The Hollies and Herman's Hermits and, later, with 10CC, was writing and performing some of the finest pop songs ever crafted, along with Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley and Lol Creme…
…all six minutes of I'm Not In Love, with its multi-memorable chords and choruses (Bohemian Rhapsody eat yer heart out…), Dreadlock Holiday (first time reggae for many people), Wall Street Shuffle (`Did your money make you better? Are you waiting for the hour when you can screw me?' – greedy bankers, seventies style) and loads more…
When 10CC split and everyone went their own ways, Graham Gouldman formed Wax with Andrew Gold, re-formed 10CC on and off with new members, and collaborated on songs with the likes of Suggs, Gary Barlow and McFly. He's now put his whole repertoire, spanning five decades of tunes, into a live show, Heart Full of Songs, based on his hit for The Yardbirds, Heart Full of Soul.
The tour comes to the very serious venue, the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester on 18th April and promises to be a proper musical retrospective for the Salford song artist.
Part of the show is 10cc hits but there's lots of other songs in there that were Gouldman-written hits for other bands, like Bus Stop and Look Through Any Window (The Hollies), For Your Love (The Yardbirds), No Milk Today (Herman's Hermits), Bridge To Your Heart (Wax).
"People always come up and say `I didn't know that you'd written that' but why would they?" he asks "I don't expect people to know that unless they are music aficionados. They might not know now, but will do after this tour. I've been working with Gary Barlow for a while and over the years I've written with lots of people. But the main person I've been writing with recently is me."
The results of that self-collaboration is the recently released solo album, Love and Work, songs from which will also be aired during the show. The Graham Gouldman style is pretty much timeless…
"It's the first solo album for twelve years and when I listen to it my style hasn't changed that much" he decides "I've still got my favourite little things I like to do with songs, chord sequences and things I want to hear, so I don't think people change that much. I still get my inspiration from things that happen to me or things that I imagine happen to me."
While now living in North London, Broughton Park might just be burning Graham Gouldman's soul. And, hopefully, Salford will turn out to salute one of its most famous sons…
"Apparently there's quite a few famous people come from Broughton" he says, and we reel them off Mike Leigh, John Cooper Clark, Elkie Brooks, Mark E Smith, Bernard Sumner…
"There you are – sons of Broughton" he laughs.
And we bet every one of them has gone all dreamy while I'm Not In Love wafted out of the stereo in the background…
Graham Gouldman
Heart Full of Songs
Thursday 18th April £22.50
Royal Northern College of Music
To book tickets – click here
For more info on Graham Gouldman see www.grahamgouldman.info – or click here
Photos by Joel Anderson
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